Thursday, July 28, 2011

Here in my household we eat pasta. No. We eat a lot of pasta. You could probably say with confidence that in some variation, pasta is what we eat the most, at least once a week even!

My husband's all time favorite food happens to be spaghetti, so naturally we end up having this often. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good spaghetti too. But I'm not so much a fan of "red sauce" pastas as I am creams sauces. (Probably for obvious reasons, its cream!) Spaghetti is the only red sauce pasta that I make, and I'm OK with that.

Although, did you see my food storage? I have a million cans of red tomato spaghetti sauce. There has got to be another way to use this sauce without over exasperating the spaghetti dishes.

So I asked a buddy at work (thanks Joe!) if he had any good recipes. He said some kind of fancy name, because he is Italian, but it basically means Red Sauce, Sausage, and Pasta. So here it is folks!

Red Sauce Sausage Pasta

6 cloves garlic, diced

1 stick butter

1 pound pork sausage (could be any kind you want, I just got some Jimmy Dean.)

1 large jar/can red spaghetti sauce

1 cup Parmesan cheese (powder stuff you shake on pizza)

1 bag, or 8 oz, (2 cups I think) grated mozzarella cheese

1 box hearty pasta, like Penna or Ziti

(These are all just approximations. When I cook I tend to not measure. So I just throw stuff in and adjust, give it a try! Its fun!)

Saute your garlic in the butter (yes the whole stick) in a large skillet. Then add the ground sausage and brown off. Add the spaghetti sauce and let it thicken up a bit. Add the Parmesan cheese and continue to cook and thicken on a lower temperature.

All the while, cook your pasta.

Then when the past is done, toss together the pasta and sauce. Then melt the Mozzarella over the top of it and ENJOY!

I really didn't think I would like it. But it was SO STINK'N GOOD! I always associate sausage with breakfast foods. So to have it in a dinner pasta sounded weird. On top of the fact that, remember, I don't care for red sauce all that much. (Same for on pizza, but that is a while other topic really.)

This pasta has a richness and depth in its flavor. I highly recommend it, because it is not only yummy, but very easy to make. And you can make it any way you want! Put less butter in, put some mushrooms in, try a different kind of cheese, onions (don't put onions in it, bleh), whatever you want!

No meal is complete without some good vegetables, garlic bread, and my husband's Darth Vadar cup! Happy eating!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I also worked at Rockey Mountain Chocolate Factory for a while and now I think I know everything about chocolate. And I definitely know everything about chocolate covered bananas!

So I whipped some up for a little girl crafty night I had at my house! If you want a recipe I used this one from Epicurious to get the chocolate/oil ratio. But it is really really easy, I'll go over the basics.

CHOCOLATE COVERED FROZEN BANANAS

Grab a sauce pan, 2 cups of chocolate chips, and 2 tbsp canola oil.

Melt over medium/medium high heat till smooth.

Take the pan off the heat and let the chocolate cool. (I thought it would harden right away... three hours later I could still dip my finger in and swirl the chocolate around... not that I did that or anything.)

Cut up some bananas, or other fruit, and start dipping!! Shake off the extra, plop fruit down in your toppings and carefully roll around till covered! Then, freeze your little dippers!

Wala!! Chocolate covered bananas!!

Then I got this great idea!

My toddler- who had been watching my every move from a chair he pulled up to the counter - could help me with a few!!

I dip, he sprinkles.

It worked out very well. He was very very good at the sprinkling part.

So I rewarded him with a bite!!

Turns out he still doesn't like chocolate that much. He spit it out and wiped it on his shirt.

A small price to pay for an afternoon of fun. Oddly, he liked the frozen chocolate banana version much better.

Monday, July 25, 2011

It is raining outside, what can I say. I'm missing my Oregon gray tones, they are so comforting. I may have expensive taste this week, that blouse is $90... I would never spend that much on a shirt... or a pillow... but I would on a ring!! Too bad this one is over double that...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

I took a trip back to Oregon to visit my family - which was why I haven't posted in two weeks! My wonderful mother took Bradley and I shopping various times and once to my favorite place - Anthropologie! I'm not into the clothes there - though they are cute they are way out of my price range- but I am into all their Home Decor.
While in school I fell in love with installation art- which is the kind of art that transforms the perceptions of a space usually by adding different elements. Well Anthropologie is a great example of this! Their store always has these wild essentially art pieces that totally change the feeling of the store. AND they are constantly changing their store! It is like interior design on drugs.

ANYWAYS, my mom bought me this way cool notepad while we were there.

I can be a printing snob and I love when something is well done and well designed. This notepad is supremely designed- Neat neat image combined with simple typography, its got this cool custom calendar thing at the top and is printed on NICE paper.

Then... Yesterday I found THIS at Michaels:

WHAT!? It is like the same thing but for way less. Slightly more ugly, cheap paper and cheap ink... but really pretty much the same thing. Now of all the Michaels version the "B" was the best. The others were pictures of tacks, or glasses, etc. (Good thing I was giving this one to a friend with a B name!)

So the fancy, well designed one was $7.95... and the Michaels one.. was a dollar.
Ugg. You do the math.
Here's the difference for me. I saw the tiger one from across the store walked over and picked it up and KNEW I was going to buy it (til my mother offered). It feels special because special care was taken in selecting the images, the paper, and the printing.
The Michaels version is clearly a knockoff, but... for the average person is equally cool and unique. And for the awesome price of $1 they get to have something that approaches neat design.

I guess it is sorta like seeing a the painting Starry Starry Night, and then seeing it printed on a purse at the mall. Good design + cheap execution= a happy customer.
Weird.

PS, while we were outside taking pics brad re-discovered my slightly flattened spoon garden markers- he still thinks they are pretty cool.

Thank you so much to all those who entered this week, and over the last couple of weeks! It has been fun and we hope that you saw some deigns you like! Head on over to our online shop to see all of our designs and to see if there is anything you want. There is something for everyone!

We are also easy going and can cater to requests. Don't forget about our custom photo pendants too, they are my (Heidi) personal favorites!

Maybe they are my favorite ones because look at that adorable little boy! (That's my son!)

Thank you,.thank you again! Keep us bookmarked and watch for our updates. We will have new designs for holidays and seasons, not to mention some exciting promotions coming up!

Thank you to everyone who entered! But don't forget we are doing another giveaway this week with all new pendant designs! That blog post will be going up TOMORROW! (Sunday July 3rd) So check back, enter to win, and tell your friends to enter too! Yay for free stuff!